The Geography of Britain
Physical Geography
The British Isles is the geographical term for a group of about 5,000 islands off the north-west coast of mainland Europe between the latitudes 50ºN and 61º. The largest island is Britain or Great Britain, which is also the largest island in Europe. It consists of England Wales and Scotland.
The next largest island is Ireland, which is made up of Northern Ireland (or Ulster) and the Irish Republic (also known as Eire). Britain and Northern Ireland, together with a number of small islands, form the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland, more commonly known as the United Kingdom (which is almost 20% smaller than Italy). In every usage, however, Great Britain or Britain is used to mean the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, between Ireland and Britain, and the Channel Islands, off north-west coast of France, though recognizing the Crown, have their own parliaments and are self-governing.
Great Britain is just under 1,000 km long and just under 500 km across in its widest part. The most mountainous region is Scotland (with Britain’s highest peak, Ben Nevis – 1,343 m), which also has a wide lowland area between the Grampians and the Southern Uplands, where most of the large towns, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, and three- quarters of the population are located. Much of Wales is also mountainous and in England, the Pennine Range (the ‘backbone of England’) extends to 224 km (although the highest peak is only 895 m high). The rest of England tends to be rather undulating, and not even the large agricultural plains of East Anglia are perfectly flat. In Ireland all the highland areas are around the edge, but there are no peaks over 1,100 m. Read the rest of this entry »
Hardest Math Problem in the World
Growing up, most of my friends (and me) suffered from an illogical fear of numbers, equations, right angles, and the entire conundrum of a subject that is mathematics. Those of us who didn’t were unfortunately labeled geeks, probably something that stemmed from the age-old human reaction that grapes are sour. Of course, we needed to learn how to add or subtract, in case we wanted to check that we got the correct change back from the cashier, but what was the point of learning the Pythagoras theorem or algebra with the x’s and y’s or all those other math terms? Well, that was the logic many of us applied to get out of studying this dreaded subject. But there were some amongst us who wanted to learn those weird theorems with Greek alphabets and imaginary numbers. And sometimes, these math club braniacs would talk about solving the hardest math problem in the world. That is how most of us got to know that there were some mathematical problems that had actually never been solved even by mathematicians who had devoted their lives to it. Today, the hardest math problem is of interest to me. Not because I want to solve it (far from it, actually) but because the fact that there is actually a hypothesis in the world that has not been proven for almost 150 years now is very intriguing.
What is the Most Difficult Math Problem in the World?
There are two maths problems in the world that have received a lot of recognition and attention because they have remained unsolved for several years. While Riemann’s Hypothesis still remains unsolved, Fermat’s theorem which is one of the hardest math problems in the world, was solved only in 1995. Though difficult to understand, we will try and explain these two problems in the next section. Read the rest of this entry »
Careers in Information Technology
Posted by admin in Information Technology on December 5, 2011
Information technology is a very wide field, and if a person is thinking of choosing a career in it, he may have to be very specific as to what he actually wants to do. There are several positions available in this field which may differ according to the responsibilities and duties of the IT professional. Moreover, these professionals are highly paid in comparison to other jobs. Certifications and IT-related trainings are very essential, if one has to prosper in this field, as they are even more important than basic educational qualifications such as bachelor’s and master’s degree. Furthermore, previous IT experiences also counts. Let’s know some of the famous careers in IT one can choose from.
Software Engineering: It is one of the most demanding careers in the information technology sector. The basic requirements to become a software engineer is a bachelor’s degree in computer science, though a master’s degree may be preferred for senior positions. Software engineers are responsible for coding, linking application modules and functionalities, and locating and correcting errors in a program code. Senior software engineers are responsible for guiding and assisting the junior ones in the tasks they have already performed in the past. The pay scale of junior engineers is $50,000-$60,000 p.a., whereas, for senior engineers, the salary may differ depending on their years of experience. Read the rest of this entry »